President Trump is set to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday, and the two leaders are expected to discuss the possibility of the US supplying Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, Axios reported on Monday.
The US provision of Tomahawks would mark a significant escalation of the proxy war since they are nuclear-capable and have a range of more than 1,000 miles, but the Trump administration has confirmed it is considering sending the weapons. Trump suggested on Sunday that he may attempt ot use Tomahawks as leverage with Russia, saying he “might have to speak with Russia” about the missiles.
“Do they want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so. I told that to President Zelensky, because Tomahawks are a new step of aggression,” the president told reporters. “I might say, ‘Look, if this war is not gonna get settled, I may send them Tomahawks.’ Russia doesn’t need that. I think it is appropriate to bring that up.”
Russia has continued to warn strongly against the US supplying Ukraine with Tomahawks, with Russian President Vladimir Putin saying that the provision would significantly damage US-Russia relations and reverse the diplomatic progress made since President Trump returned to office at the beginning of the year. Other Russian officials have raised the possibility of US military personnel being directly involved in the targeting process.
The feasibility of supplying Ukraine with Tomahawks remains unclear since the Ukrainian military lacks the ability to fire them. Tomahawks are designed to be fired by US Navy warships and submarines, and the US has only recently developed a mobile, land-based launcher for the missiles, a system that was previously banned by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which the US withdrew from in 2019.
The Trump administration has found other ways to support long-range strikes inside Russia, including by providing intelligence for Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. Such attacks always risk a major escalation from Russia.
